Wow

(So much so, she sometimes overbooks. Recently, I had to step in for her; the audience's disappointment was palpable.)

The talk she gives to groups of a certain gender is called WoW (Women of Wisdom). She gets lots of standing ovations.

She earned a "wow" of her own today. The absolute, final, we're-sure-this-is-it numbers for the season have been compiled.

Back in the spring–just for fun–the park directors all wrote down their prognostications for the season. Just one number was required: attendance.

At the end of the season, the envelopes come out of the safe and our answers are revealed. We mock those who guessed too high and click our tongues at those who were way low. It's a total yuk-fest.

This year, as always, we were all over the map with our numbers.

Except Mrs. Koch.

She nailed it.

Over a million and she guessed the number. The exact number. All seven digits.

What a woman.

What tickles us about this is how Mrs. Koch always says that she was the "people person" while Mr. Koch was the "numbers person." When we've been in meetings together over the years and the talk turns to numbers, computers, and computations, she'll catch my eye and roll hers.

You know how it is when you're not supposed to laugh — how that makes it so much worse? Been there more times than I can count.

A few years after Mr. Koch passed away, I heard Mrs. Koch on the 2-way. She was out in the parking lot, watching the morning traffic. She told us from the look of the incoming stream of cars she guessed we were going to have a stronger-than-anticipated attendance day.

That morning, I could have sworn I could hear Mr. Koch chuckling up in heaven. Oh, how that would have delighted him.